Stories from the Collection
The Last Purchases: Freddie Mercury, Auction Catalogues and Christmas Gifts
Twelve auction catalogues consulted by Freddie Mercury in 1991, with notes, bids and original invoices issued in his name.
Until his final days at Garden Lodge, Freddie Mercury kept alive his love of art, antiques and the personal choice of objects. This selection of twelve auction catalogues tells precisely that story: Freddie not as a distant icon, but as an attentive and curious collector, still involved in the pleasure of searching.
The catalogues preserve notes relating to desired objects, prices and the subsequent original invoices issued in his name. They are purchase documents, but also biographical traces: they record tastes, wishes and decisions made at an extremely delicate moment in his life.
The most touching part concerns the Christmas gifts chosen for the people closest to him. According to the story preserved with these materials, some parcels were delivered on 25 December 1991, one month after Freddie’s passing. Among the notes is also a reference to a “Gift for Roger”, a final thought intended for Roger Taylor.
These catalogues transform the act of collecting into something deeper. They speak not only of art or antiques, but of attention, affection and generosity. They are among the most intimate testimonies of the private Freddie: a man who, even at his most fragile, continued to think of others.